A decade ago, voters in Clare and Gladwin Counties approved a ten-year millage request that proved to be an enormous game-changer for high schoolers in those communities. Now, following unprecedented growth and student success, ClareGladwin CTE is asking voters to renew that commitment.
At its meeting on Dec. 18, the Clare-Gladwin RESD Board of Education officially sanctioned the pursuit of a Career & Technical Education millage renewal request next spring. The ballot measure will go before voters on May 6; the request will be for a renewal of the ten-year, 1-mill package first approved by voters in 2016.
Now CTE supporters are taking the case back to the community, and their message is clear: It’s working. “First and foremost, this request is for a ten-year renewal of the existing millage, which means it won’t increase anybody’s taxes, not one bit,” said CGRESD Board President Sue Murawski. “In terms of impact, CTE fills a critical need in delivering hands-on vocational training to about 400 local students from five school districts every year – skills and experiences that are very often used to launch successful careers, very often right here in our own communities.”
Murawski is uniquely positioned to reflect on CTE’s tougher times; she served on the board the last time the millage request was made. “For those of us who were around when that first CTE millage passed, we know how profound its impact has been on the program and the thousands of students it has served since then,” Murawski said. “CTE’s offerings, influence and success in helping high schoolers begin their careers has grown immensely, and this millage request reflects a tremendous ongoing need that CTE fills in our communities.”
Before that 2016 passage, Clare-Gladwin RESD was one of very few intermediate school districts in the state without a dedicated, taxpayer-supported millage for CTE. But the list of advancements in the program since then indicates clear impact that wouldn’t have been possible without voter approval.
“We were able to bring back Welding Technology and add new programs in Advanced Manufacturing, Agricultural Science and Diesel & Heavy Equipment Technology,” said CGRESD Superintendent Tara Mager. “We were able to establish permanent homes with state-of-the-art labs at the Magnus Center for our Automotive Technology and Construction Trades programs.”
“None of that happens,” Murawski added, “without the generous support of the voters. It was, in a word, transformative for Clare-Gladwin CTE.”
Beyond the considerable facilities upgrades that have come in the past ten years, CTE continues to expand in all the right directions, meeting local students’ needs every day, whether it’s through paying for student certifications and credentials in their field, providing dual enrollment instruction for students to earn college credit or organizing work-based learning opportunities – true on-the-job training.
“It’s almost impossible to overstate how crucial the CTE millage is,” said CTE Director Eric Johnson. “In the years since the millage passed, we’ve seen sizable increases in CTE participation – anywhere from 21 to 42 percent of junior and senior students in some districts. That speaks volumes about the importance of the program in our local school districts.”
Friday, January 10, 2025
